Are Carlos Slim and Frida Kahlo Mexico’s Curse?

Jose de la Isla, writing for Scripps-Howard’s “Hispanic Link” believes so. I don’t completely agree with his conclusion (that Mexico needs to emulate Ireland or Singapore) but he lays out an interesting argument:

A controversy broke out earlier this month after the Mexican online business publication Sentido Comun announced that Carlos Slim Helu was the richest man in the world.

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Ordinarily, these rankings are not enough kindling for a hot controversy, with maybe one exception. The United States cannot boast being No. 1. Gates is not the richest person in the world. For some people, the Forbes rankings are like the Olympics of wealth.

Some disconcerted commentators weighed in, objecting to what appears to be resplendent, even obscene, personal wealth in the face of poverty in Mexico. I heard others vainly argue that regions of Mexico are very progressive, where incremental change and economic innovation are evident.

The underlying dispute, I think, centers on confusion about personal wealth and social prosperity. Personal wealth is a function of initiative, opportunity and luck. Social prosperity comes from initiative, opportunity and good public policy.

The ascent of Carlos Slim Helu to No. 1 is misread and little understood.

Earlier this month, commentator Luis Gonzalez de Alba, writing in Mexico City’s Milenio, said he was upset by the debut of the opera “Frida.” …

To Gonzalez, the entire Diego-Frida epoch represents a folkloric past. It influences public thinking to this day by idealizing paternalistic government (bad public policy) as opposed to a futuristic one that creates opportunities for the masses. The image and ideology of the Frida cult only instills notions of an exploited Mexico and outsiders who rob the country blind of natural resources and keep labor wages down.

In the presidential elections of a year ago, that scenario was played out. The opposition leader, Manuel Lopez Obrador, was the populist, promising 1930s-style measures that originally got Mexico in the economic predicament it is still in.

The ruling conservative National Action Party (PAN), after a failed presidency under Vicente Fox, proposed measured, controlled growth and some further privatization. Felipe Calderon, of that party, won but just barely, with a .06 percent margin.

The results suggest Mexico is right in the middle. Looked at another way, neither alternative is really acceptable to a firm majority of the population.

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